Many fluent commercial products of a liquid, gel or granular nature are sold and dispensed from plastic containers. For instance, shampoo is generally provided in a blow-molded plastic container. Such a container has a relatively wide mouth to enable high speed fill by automated filling machinery.
Closures are separately injection molded and are applied to the containers after the containers have been charged with product. A relatively small closeable port is formed within the closure structure for use by the consumer to dispense individual-sized portions of product.
The cost of manufacturing and installing the separately formed closures adds significantly to the overall cost of mass producing the container and closure package.
While the aforementioned blow-molded containers having separately fabricated injection-molded closures are satisfactory for their intended purposes, there is a need in the art for a blow-molded container which can be filled and sealed, and which enables product to be dispensed readily, without requiring a separately fabricated closure and its associated costs. The container should be capable of being charged with product at high speeds, and yet allow the consumer readily to dispense individual-sized portions of product.